Austin American-Statesman from Austin, Texas • B7

FINANCIAL SERVICES Austin-based EZCorp. reports record income Austin-based payday lending and pawnshop chain EZCorp Inc. said Tuesday that strong international growth helped it to record net income for the scal third quarter. For the quarter that ended June 30, EZCorp reported net income of $28.5 million, or 56 cents per share. For the year to date, net income is up 23 percent, and earnings per share are up 20 percent compared with the same period last year, the company said.

Revenue in the international sectors more than doubled, according to a news release. EZCorp operates more than 1,100 pawnshops and nan cial services stores in the United States, Mexico and Canada. TECHNOLOGY smartphone sales down, but income up NEW YORK Inc. on Tuesday posted the best pro tabili ty ever in its wireless arm paradoxically because it sold fewer smartphones. Dallas-based the largest telecommunications company in the U.S., said its subscribers are now holding on to their phones longer: The rate of upgrades to new phones was at a record low in the second quarter.

good news for the company because it has to subsidize each smartphone by hundreds of dollars to sell it to customers for $99 or $199. IPhones, in particular, are expensive to sell because Apple charges about $650 for each one. BANKING JPMorgan credit card settlement: $100 million NEW YORK JPMorgan Chase Co. has agreed to pay $100 million to settle a lawsuit by customers who claim the largest bank improperly increased minimum payments on their credit card bills. The proposed settlement would end a 3-year-old case against Chase for raising the minimum payment to 5 percent of account balances from 2 percent in 2008 and 2009.

Cardholders claim Chase did it to make extra money on fees it charged to people who meet higher payments. The settlement was disclosed in a ling Monday with the U.S. District Court in San Francisco. In the court document, Chase argued that increasing the monthly payments was a reasonable and sensible response to unprecedented economic turmoil and impending regulatory changes. JPMorgan Chase respond to a request for comment Tuesday.

CO mm ERCE Net 2nd-quarter earnings fall 91 percent SAN FRANCISCO Net ix second-quarter earnings plunged 91 percent as the video subscription service signed up fewer subscribers. The nancial deterioration reported Tuesday comes after a rare loss for Net ix during the rst three months of the year. Although earnings were better than analysts anticipated, disappointing subscriber growth and a muddied outlook for the rest of the year unnerved investors, who were already skeptical about Net prospects amid intensifying competition. AUTO AKERS GM: Canada investment to be $850 million DETROIT General Motors said it plans to invest $850 million in Canada for research and development. GM said it began spending the money in 2009 and will continue to invest until 2016.

Much of the money will go to a research center in Oshawa, Ontario. GM say how many jobs the investment would create or how much it has spent since 2009. The announcement comes a month after GM decided to close a factory in Oshawa next year, cutting 2,000 jobs. Compiled from sta and wire reports Investors eat up shares of li price DOW NASDAQ 12,617.32 2,862.99 1,338.31 Business Wednesday, July 25, 2012 B7 News: or 512-445-3835 Real Austin. Real News.

Find blogs, personal finance stories and business news at statesman.com/business Some reasons behind economic problems. B8 BUSINESS DIGEST By Bernard Condon Associated Press NEW YORK A parade of grim news, from weak corporate earnings to a pullback at U.S. factories to spreading fault lines in debt crisis, sent investors eeing stocks for a third straight day Tuesday. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 104.14 points, or 0.82 percent, to 12,617.32. It was the third triple-digit point loss in a row for the blue chip index.

The last time that happened was September, when fears were rife that the United States was on the brink of another recession. Lower earnings forecasts from corporate bellwethers, such as United Parcel Service, combined with the weak report on manufacturing, fed fears of more disappointing results from corporate America in the coming days. guess is we seen the said Carl Yingst, chief market analyst at Joseph Gunner, an investment bank. Investors around the world dumped stocks and ed to the relative safety of U.S. government debt.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note fell to another record low, and the dollar hit a two-year high against the euro. Stocks fell from the start of trading after news that UPS had cut its earnings forecast 4 percent for all of 2012. The package-delivery company said it expects global trade to slow even more than the global economy Poor earnings forecasts from rms including UPS send investors scurrying to U.S. government debt Stocks slip for 3rd day in row ECONO See ECONOMY RESTAURANTS By Lori Hawkins Wall Street welcomed Austin- based Holdings Inc. on Tuesday, with share prices surging nearly 16 percent in its rst day as a publicly traded company.

The funky and iconic Tex-Mex restaurant chain raised $75.8 million in an initial public er ing Monday night by selling 5.8 million shares at $13 each to institutional investors. The shares closed at $15.06, up $2.06, or 15.85 percent, in trading Tuesday on the Nasdaq exchange. the market conditions, it was a happy said John Fitzgibbon of IPOScoop. com, which tracks initial public erings. got a great name, a great price-point and a strong reputation.

The message to them is: Keep doing what doing. like a football team if you can run the ball, keep running the The company was founded in 1982 by Mike Young and John Zapp as a single restaurant on Barton Springs Road in Austin. Today, it operates 36 restaurants in seven states. really excited to be able to take our little concept of authentic Austin-Mexican food to the Southeast and continue to add some more in Texas and said Steve Hislop, CEO. Hislop said the company plans to expand its locations by 20 percent a year.

The key to the growth, he said, is to remain a with individual looks for its restaurants. The Austin Tex-Mex chain known for a ordable food raises $75.8 million in initial public ering See IPO Ralph Barrera Holdings Inc. sold 5.8 million shares on its first day as a publicly traded company. The restaurant chain, started in 1982 in Austin, now operates 36 locations in seven states and plans to grow even more. CEO Steve Hislop says company plans to expand but keep Austin vibe.

By Nick Wing led The New York Times Apple sold 28 percent more iPhones last quarter than it did a year earlier, but the growth failed to meet the lofty expectations of analysts, leading to a rare disappointing earnings report from the company. After the release of the report Tuesday, shares dropped more than 5 percent to $567.80 in after-hours trading. In the regular session, the stock fell 0.48 percent, to $600.92. The trouble in the quarter appeared to be largely the fault of the iPhone. In a now-familiar pattern, analysts have been warning of potential weakness in iPhone sales because of the likelihood that the company would introduce a new version of the phone sometime in the fall.

Apple invariably refreshes the iPhone product line with a new model around that time, and the anticipation can cause many phone shoppers to delay their purchases. Apple feels the pain of that phenomenon most acutely in the summer quarter that ends in late September, but it can also start before then. Though roundly beating last numbers, sales might be held back by wait for next iPhone Apple pro ts less than expected ECHNOLOGY See APPLE As drought spreads, ranchers selling off cattle across Plains RANCHING By Roxana Hegeman Associated Press WICHITA, AN Kansas cattleman Ken Grecian sold 20 pairs of cows and calves a few weeks after drought had sucked his pastures dry and no rain was in the forecast. He sold 20 more pairs Friday. Grecian spent years meticulously breeding his cows to improve the genetics in each generation, but with Kansas in one of the worst droughts seen in decades, struggling to nd enough grazing to feed 300 cows, plus their calves.

He hopes to get by with selling only a quarter of his herd, but there are no guarantees with the drought expected to linger through October. Other cattlemen throughout the middle and western part of the U.S. also are selling animals they graze or a ord to buy feed for. Beef from the animals now ooding livestock auctions will start showing up in grocery stores in November and December, temporarily driving down meat prices. But prices are expected to rise sharply by January in the wake of dwindling supplies and smaller livestock herds.

See CATTLE RunTex closing Lake Austin outlet ETAIL By Pam LeBlanc The Lake Austin Boulevard location of RunTex is closing its doors, according to owner Paul Carrozza. The main RunTex store at 422 W. Riverside Drive, along with locations at 3616 Far West Blvd. in Northwest Austin and 809 S. Main St.

in Georgetown, will re main open, Carrozza said. Carrozza had been leasing the space at 2201 Lake Austin Blvd. on a monthly basis, he said. CrossFit Central ATX, which was based in the same space, recently moved out. The ness program is now partnering with 5 Fitness, a personal training studio in Westlake.

Even though RunTex is moving out of the Lake Austin space, Carrozza said he will maintain the billboard, which he uses to advertise local runs and events, on top of the building, which is situated near MoPac Boulevard (Loop 1) at Lady Bird Lake. Carrozza said he will announce a new location of Run Tex soon. Carrozza bought the rst location of RunTex, a small running store of Lamar Boulevard, in 1988. Over the years, RunTex stores have opened and closed See RUNTEX Owner Paul Carrozza says RunTex will still use billboard above Lake Austin store. No other stores a ected; owner says new location will be announced soon John L.

Mone Press Some of Kendal remaining cattle drink at his ranch in Palco, Kan. Grecian has sold dozens of cows and calves as drought dries his pastures..